SkillDisplay – Learn to work with TYPO3

SkillDisplay provides self study guides and verifications for TYPO3 and Fluid. Together with the TYPO3 Education Committee and the TYPO3 GmbH, they create learning paths with the goal to succeed in the official TYPO3 certification exams.

SkillDisplay is on my radar since they started about two years ago. At the TYPO3 University Day 2018 in Mainz I had the chance to talk a little bit more about the project with Florian Weiss, the executive director of the project, and Marc Willmann from the TYPO3 Education Committee.

About skills, paths and trees

The goal of SkillDisplay is to provide self study guides, which help you to succeed in certifications. Such a self study guide is called a SkillPath. A SkillPath can be seen as some kind of a broader topic, like the TYPO3 CMS Certified Editor or the Certified Integrator. A SkillPath is split into many smaller skills, that cover a single, very specific topic.

Skilldisplay – An example SkillPath

For example, if you want to get through all topics for a TYPO3 Certified Editor, you need to complete 27 skills (like shown in the screenshot above). The skills with a triangle are the topics, which you can work on next. Skills with a padlock behind are (obviously) locked and not available at the moment. A green slash behind a Skill indicates, that you completed it and verified it at least with the “Self Verification”.

A single skill

The definition of a skill gives a short description and one or more links to websites, that provide the necessary information. After working through these links, the user should be able to do the tasks, defined in the goals section of a skill. If you completed a skill, you must request a SkillUp.

A SkillUp verifies, that you are able to complete the goals. While working through a SkillPath, this will be usually the Self-SkillUp. There you verify, that you have that skill.

After you did such a Self-SkillUp, the next skills open up and are ready for self study (and verification). This means, that the learning path is not just a simple chain of topics, you are forced into. The result is a SkillTree, where a you can find and build your individual path through all the topics.

Verifications

The only necessary verification to proceed within a SkillPath, is the “Self-Skillup”. This opens up the next steps of the SkillPath and you can keep on going and learning. Gaining a new self verification is basically just few mouse clicks away, but does not tell, whether you have the skill or not.

So it is better to have a third party, that confirms, that you really have these skills. This can be a company (Business-SkillUp) or some kind of school or university (Educational-SkillUp).

The fourth SkillUp is, that you can credit your official certificate and show it there too. The TYPO3 Education Committee will check, whether you have an official certificate, and if yes, will verify your Certification-SkillUp.

Available SkillPaths

The SkillPaths are currently only available for the TYPO3 CMS Certified Integrator, the TYPO3 CMS Certified Editor, the TYPO3 Certified Developer and Fluid Standalone. All SkillPaths are developed in tight cooperation with the TYPO3 Education Committee and the TYPO3 GmbH. If the syllabus of the certification changes, the Skills and the SkillPaths will be also adopted and reflect the new requirements.

Founder and Partners

SkillDisplay is developed by a nonprofit organization in the capital of Austria, Vienna. The founder of the project is Florian Weiss, who is also an active member of the TYPO3 Education Committee.

Much of the funding comes from the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union. This program supports education, training and youth within the European Union. Another pillar are business and educational partners.

A business or educational partner can verify his employees and students while completing their SkillPaths. Already nine web agencies and six universities and TYPO3 events joined the partner program. If you also want to partner and offer this service, please get in contact with “partners@skilldisplay.eu” about the terms and conditions.

Conclusion

In my opinion, SkillDisplay is a very good possibility for self guided learning. If you are not sure, whether it will fit for you, just try it out. The work, Florian and his co-workers, put into it, is (at least) worth testing it. For myself, I decided to work through the SkillPath “TYPO3 CMS Certified Developer” in the next months.

Credits

I want to thank my supporters via patreon.com, who make this blog post possible. The last month Anja Leichsenring joined as a community supporter. Thanks Anja!

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